Fan Interference

Prof: Yesterday was Greg Maddux’s birthday. I hope everyone blessed his holy name as was appropriate.

Now, I am a Southern girl who grew up listening to country during the 80s and 90s, so for me that’s kind of a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” type of thing as far as I’m concerned. I mean, any time I can bunker down and listen to George Strait, Garth, or Reba I’m pretty happy. However, today’s musical selections are from one of my favorite country artists, who is a bit newer than some of those legends – Kenny Chesney. Time to kick back, relax, enjoy life a little bit, and read up on some American Kids (even if they aren’t originally from America).

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Phillies 3, Marlins 1 F/14 – Prof: Uh, why did it take a team with the kind of fire power such as Philadelphia fourteen innings to beat a bunch of day-old Feesh? Well…both team pretty much trotted out their entire pitching staffs with the exception of the starters who have to play next or just played, and two solo homers had them tied up starting at the sixth inning. Continued futility until the fourteenth (!!), when Jean Segura hit an RBI homer to seal the deal. Bryce Harper went 1-7. Meep.

Tigers 4, Twins 6 – Scouts: Honestly, not a whole lot stood out in this game.  Eddie Rosario went 3-2 with a double and a homer.  Byron Buxton stole away a homer with a pretty nifty leaping grab.  And Trevor Hildenberger came in and put a stop to the bleeing when it looked like the Twins were gonna blow one.

 

Spiders 8, Royals 9 – Prof: Another day, another rough outing for Corey Kluber. The Klubot’s operating system must have a glitch, as he went 2.2 innings and allowed six runs. He currently nursing a 6.16 ERA. Ouch. Meanwhile, Kansas City won the game in electric fashion, a victory gained on the Mercury feet of Terrance Gore. The KC pinch runner stole a base and then scored off of a single in the bottom of the ninth. A walk-off that was more of a run-off if you squint hard enough.

Athletics 7, Rangers 8 – Scouts: Down 4 runs, Texas picked up one in the 7th and 4 in the 8th to complete the comeback.  Elvis Andrews was a double shy of the cycle, and Oakland’s typically reliable bullpen wasn’t so reliable on this day.

Cardinals 9, Reds 5 – Scouts: St. Louis scored them in bunches, knocking in 4 in the first and 5 in the 7th to finish off the weekend in Mexico.  Marcell Ozuna did most of the damage himself, picking up 4 RBI’s on a pair of homers.

 

Rockies 4, Giants 0 – Prof: Something special was happening in San Francisco. German Marquez was going for a no-no and went all the way until the eighth inning, broken up by a Evan Longoria single. It could have been salvaged but Nolan Arenado had a rare misjudge of the ball and let it sneak past him. While Marquez missed his chance at a no-hitter, he still went the whole distance and only allowed the one hit all day. It also ended the eight game losing streak that Colorado has riding.

 

Brewers 1, Dodgers 7 – Prof: This was all Los Angeles. Alex Verdugo, a young center fielder, got the party started early with an RBI single in the first, and a solo homer in the fifth. Joc Pederson also hit a dinger of his own. Ross Stripling held his own, going eight innings to help a banged up bullpen get some rest.

Padres 4, D’backs 8 – Prof: My dude Zack Greinke continues to be one of the most interesting men in baseball. When he’s off, he’s super off, but when he’s on, the guy is lethal. ZG went seven innings, allowing only two earned runs and six Ks, and also had two hits, both of which ended up as runs. Never say that ZG does anything halfway. Ketel “Twenty Huge Hits by the Original Artist” Marte, Christian Walker, and David Peralta had home runs.

 

Astros 3, Mariners 2 – Scouts: The Astros have now won 9 straight, and had to take apart the hottest team in baseball to claim the thrown.  (See what I did there GoT fans?)  Gerrit Cole stuck out 11 over 6 innings, sending Seattle on their first 3 game losing streak on the season.  The question now is will they rebound against Cleveland, or has the magic faded?

Orioles 0, Red Sox 4 – Scouts: David Price looked like the David Price of old.  Of course it sure didn’t help it was against the hapless Orioles.  Just a day after going 3-5 with 4 RBI’s, the Chris Davis watch is back on as Davis finished the day 0-4 with 2 strikeouts.  Oh well, back to business as usual I suppose.

White Sox 5, Yankees 2 – Prof: Props to Tim Anderson for hitting his first career grand slam! And against Masahiro Tanaka, too. Here’s the wild part – Jose Abreu almost had a grand salami, too, but it ended up saved by an acrobatic Aaron Judge catch. While Anderson’s homer was obviously the game changer here, he obviously didn’t get there without his teammates, most notably Yoan Moncada who had three hits and a walk.

 

Rays 8, Blue Jays 4 – Prof: Felt like it was going to be close there for a while, at least Toronto fans thought maybe they had a chance. But then the eighth inning happened. Five runs to push the Rays over the top in this one. Tampa used seven pitchers – continuing their opener experiment.

Pirates 4, Nationals 3 – Scouts: Neither starting pitcher looked terribly good at the start, eventually settling down after the third.  The game remained tied at 3 each from the 4th until Jason Margin busted it open with a ground-rule double in the 9th against Wander Suero for the win.

Mets 3, Braves 7 – Scouts: Can you believe both teams are now 9-6?  Ozzie Albies and Josh Donaldson both had themselves a pretty fine afternoon both going 2-5.  Albies would set hem up while Donaldson would knock them down.

Angels, Cubs – PPD (snow and rain)